The Quantified Self is a movement to incorporate technology to improve daily function by use of self-tracking data. With the Quantified Self movement becoming prevalent, more people are looking to incorporate technology acquire data regarding aspects of a person's daily life in terms of inputs (e.g. food consumed, quality of surrounding air), states (e.g. blood oxygen levels, body temperature), and/or performance. This self-monitoring concept combines wearable sensors with computing devices to produce an output to improve daily functioning.
Many thermometers are currently available for measuring a wearer's internal body temperature at a given time, after which they are removed. However, most of them do not offer a convenient way of measuring temperature over a time interval due to their bulky size and/or uncomfortable design. The sensing devices that are commercially available measure temperature through a naturally enclosed cavity (e.g. ear canal, armpit, vagina, rectum, and mouth), see, US Patent Application Publication US2002/0068877 to Abramoritch, US Patent Application Publication US2005/0281314 to Fraden, and US Patent Application Publication US2012/0238900 to Rechberg or skin, see, US Patent Application Publication US2011/0158284 to Goto and U.S. Pat. No. 7,787,973 to Pompei. The natural cavity provides a measure of the body's internal temperature.
An exemplary technology lag area with these thermometers has been shown through their lack of convenience and comfort. Many at home products require manual temperature measuring; therefore, continuous or periodic temperature monitoring is troublesome and most times unattainable. A wearable thermometer that accurately measures small changes in useful temperature is needed to acquire information about the wearer's physiological state (e.g. fever, stress, menstrual cycle). Also, a bulky sensor design is common for the current temperature monitors, with size and/or discomfort not permitting a person to wear the device during daily activities or sleeping for continuous temperature measurements.
As such, the development of a wearable device for measuring the wearer's accurate useful temperature during daily activities or sleeping is needed in the field. Further, a thermometer that offers constant monitoring through a convenient at-home device is desired. This will advance the Quantified Self movement by offering a controllable, self-tracking method for determination of fever, stress and/or fertility. Additionally, this advancement will benefit the field with a reduction in medical cost by eliminating excess doctor visits and providing a natural method to determine fertility compared to medicine.